Concrete Angel
by aLeX24
Summary: - - - - -


**Concrete Angel  
  
**

The sound of the squeaking door handle rouses her from her sleep. Panic rises in her small body as she slides further under her worn blanket. Large blue eyes, knowing too much for their own good close holding back enough tears to drown in. The floorboards creak under the weight of her visitor, stopping beside the bed. She feels the bed dip and a large, strong, overpowering hand pulls away the covers. Resistance is useless as one of those heinous hands grabs her small fragile, already bruised arm and pulls her small frame towards one much larger reeking of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Routine. Every night awoken to the same thing, no one to stop it, no one to hear her silent pleads, 'no daddy'. 

- - - - -   
_She walks to school with the lunch she packed  
Nobody knows what she's holdin' back  
Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday  
She hides the bruises with linen and lace  
_- - - - -  
  
Blistered feet, squeezed into shoes at least one size too small, carry bruised legs to her cubby hole at school the next morning. A meagre lunch of some bread and cheese is placed ever so gently on the shelf. Tugging nervously at her dress, she tries to pull it down, longer, to hide her secrets. _No one can know_, he said; _bad girl_, he had scolded. Walking to her desk she sits down gingerly, ever aware of the pain as she does so. _No one can know_, she remembers and she resists the urge to wince as the damage done touches the chair. 

- - - - -  
_The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask  
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask  
Bearing the burden of a secret storm  
Sometimes she wishes she was never born  
_- - - - -  
  
She could not remember a time when there were no bruises. Her father hated her, he told her every day and every night that she was useless, and a mistake; should have never been born. The teacher gently places a hand on her shoulder, and the tired, broken little girl stifles a small gasp of pain as the gentle hand touches one of the dark, angry marks scattered all over. Except where clothes wouldn't cover. He was always sure to not hit her where people could see. She looks up at the teacher with wide blue eyes, the walls go back up and she offers a small smile, _No one can know_. The teacher moves on to others, incapable of hearing the unspoken cries for help. What she wouldn't give to tell someone, make the monster in the night go away, stop touching her, calling her names… _No one can know._

- - - - -  
_Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel  
_- - - - -  
  
Too young to be home alone, she enters the quiet house. He told others there was a babysitter. No one questioned him. She gets a small snack from the kitchen, from what little food there is, knowing she will get no dinner unlike the other kid's families. Sitting in her room in the corner she eats silently. He'd be home soon. It would start again. She feels tears in her eyes but pushes them back and curls up on the floor, careful of her marked shoulders and back. Exhausted, sleep comes easily. There her world is safe and no one comes in her room at night, no one grabs her hard, no one hits her, calls her bad words. She gets a new dress, new shoes and her daddy loves her and plays with her…

The sound of pounding footsteps in the hall sends the small body into a ball in the corner. Trembling slightly, knowing blue eyes glisten with unshed tears as the door opens. The monster is back. Alcohol and cigarette smoke lingers in the air, he is angrier tonight. 

- - - - -  
_Somebody cries in the middle of the night  
The neighbours hear, but they turn out the lights  
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate  
When morning comes it'll be too late  
_- - - - -  
  
"So what do we got Liv"

"Six year old girl, beaten and raped, died of strangulation" Her partner feels sick to his stomach.

"Perp?"

"The father. Neighbours heard commotion during the night and finally got the police to take a look this morning, arrested him on sight"

"Sick bastard" he says bitterly as the coroner lifts the sheet to show the small body on a worn blanket in an old looking dress, bruised and broken, never having known love or friendship. Elliot swallows the lump in his throat and looks away, vaguely noticing the stench of alcohol and cigarette smoke lingering in the air. 

"Other family?" he asks his partner. She shakes her head and walks away, not being able to stand the sight of the small angel on the bed. _No one even knew_, he thinks, _no one even cared_. 

- - - - -  
_A statue stands in a shaded place  
An angel girl with an upturned face  
A name is written on a polished rock  
A broken heart that the world forgot  
_- - - - -  
  
The funeral was on a sunny day. Yellow and red leaves hung in the trees ready to fall. Three people showed up that day. Having not known the young girl, but been effected by her presence, even in death, her strength, so young, yet so capable. They all prayed that she was in a better place, that she was loved.   
Not long after the priest had gone the aging teacher and the tired detective turned away from the small statue serving as a headstone and went back to their lives, one teaching children and the other keeping them safe, both vowing to try to make it so that no stone angels would ever be needed. The statue was left alone, two white roses left on the ground before it representing peace. On its base read the name of the child whose nightmare was over, she was released from her hell, forever living her dreams. 

- - - - -  
_Through the wind and the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel.  
_- - - - -

**Law and Order SVU characters are not mine, I only used em to satisfy my muse, so don't sue. The song is "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride. ** Thanks for reading. : )


End file.
